求职信石沉大海的5大原因

    “找工作最让人受不了的是杳无音信，”波士顿招聘软件公司Bullhorn的首席执行官阿特•帕帕斯（Art Papas)说。“这样的过程都能让人急疯了，申请一个职位，然后音信全无，不知道有没有被列入面试名单。如果没有，又是什么原因？”

    为了了解潜在雇主在翻看简历时的想法，Bullhorn的研究人员调查了约1,500名招聘人员和经理，希望找出到底是哪些因素导致他们将简历扔在一边。排在前五的几大因素如下：

    1.频繁跳槽。约40%的受访者表示，频繁跳槽（包括入职一年内离职）会使求职者丧失资格。这对于跨世纪一代相当不利，这代人可是出了名地爱换工作，平均每两年就换一次工作。

    2.技能过时。约1/3（31%）的受访者表示，求职者“掌握的技能已过时”也会让雇主掉头就走。约28%的受访者列出的是“不了解当代办公科技”。

    3.遭到解雇。大多数招聘人员和经理们都认为“解雇”经历会“严重损害”申请者的求职成功概率，这一点并不令人意外。但接下来的几项有些令人不安：患有慢性病或残疾，紧随其后的是延长产假或陪产假，研究称后者“对职业前景的损害超过了离职进修，甚至是被解雇。”

    4.年龄。约70%的受访者表示，对30多岁求职者的需求高于其他年龄段。但有意思的是，更长的工作经验确实重要：猎头和招聘经理们认为，“对40多岁求职者的需求高于20多岁者。”

    5.失业。约36%的受访者表示，有6-12个月职业空窗期的求职者很难找到工作。28%表示，只要出现过职业空窗期的求职者都难以找到工作。

    但真正的麻烦出现在两年。“招聘人员承认，有刑事犯罪记录（非重罪）的人找一份新工作，还要比失业两年者容易些，”研究人员写道。这条消息令人沮丧，特别是当今长期失业的美国人数量已经超过了大萧条以来的任何时期。

    不过，阿特•帕帕斯坚称，要克服长期失业顽症还是有可能的。“我们请招聘人员给我们介绍了一些失业两年或更长时间后确实找到工作的人，询问他们是如何找到工作的，”他说。“我们发现，问题并不在于你失业了多久，而是你离开这个领域多久了。”

    区别在哪里？“只要在求职过程中继续发展技能，在领域内保持活跃，都会有帮助，”帕帕斯解释说。他询问的一位女性（在失业期间）“参加了网络课程，获得了新的证书，做了几份无薪实习生工作，参加了行业团体会议和其他社交活动，因此在面试中她有一些新东西可以谈，”他说。“如果你与行业保持同步，持续参与，在简历中更新并反映这一点，等于告诉雇主你的积极态度和主观能动性。”

    帕帕斯补充说，失业者往往感到尴尬，因此不联络朋友、亲戚或前同事寻找可能的求职机会。“失业没什么难为情的，现在有2,300万人都是这样，”他说。“人脉和推荐是获得下一份工作的途径。人们愿意提供帮助。通常最难的是（给你认识的人）打第一个电话。一旦行动起来，事情就好办多了。”

    "One of the most frustrating elements of a job search is the silence," notes Art Papas, CEO of Boston-based recruiting software maker Bullhorn. "It can be maddening to apply for a position and then hear nothing about whether you're even being considered for an interview -- and, if not, why not."

    In an effort to shed some light on what prospective employers are thinking when they read your resume, researchers at the company asked about 1,500 recruiters and hiring managers to reveal what makes them turn thumbs down. The top five answers:

    1. Job hopping. About 40% of those surveyed said a history of frequent job changes, including leaving any previous employer within a year of getting hired, is likely to disqualify an applicant. That's a big hurdle for Millennials, who are notorious for changing jobs, on average, every two years.

    2. Outdated skills. Having "skills that are no longer in demand" puts employers off, according to about one in three (31%) of those surveyed, while 28% cited being "out of touch with modern workplace technology."

    3. Getting fired. Most recruiters and hiring managers ranked having been sacked as "severely damaging" to candidates' chances of landing a new job, which isn't too surprising. But what came next on the list is more disconcerting: A chronic illness or disability, followed closely by having taken an extended maternity or paternity leave, which the study says "was deemed more harmful to career prospects than leaving the workforce to get an advanced degree or even being laid off."

    4. Age. About 70% of poll respondents say candidates in their 30s are in bigger demand than any other age group. Interestingly, though, longer experience does count for something: Headhunters and hiring managers see "greater demand for candidates in their 40s than for those in their 20s."

    5. Unemployment. A candidate who's been out of work for six months to a year is hard to place, according to 36% of those surveyed, and 28% said the same of someone with any gaps in his or her employment history.

    But the real trouble starts at two years. "Recruiters admit it's easier for them to place someone with a (non-felony) criminal record in a new job than to place someone who has been unemployed for two years," the researchers note. That's discouraging news, when you consider that the number of long-term unemployed Americans is now larger than at any time since the Great Depression.

    Nonetheless, Art Papas insists that it's possible to overcome the stigma of a long spell of joblessness. "We've spoken with recruiters who referred us to people who did find new jobs after two years or more of unemployment, and we've asked them how they did it," he says. "What we discovered was that it's not so much a matter of how long you've been unemployed, as a question of how long you've been out of the game."

    What's the difference? "It helps to keep developing your skills and staying active in your field while you're job hunting," Papas explains. One woman he spoke with "took online courses, earned new certifications, did a couple of unpaid internships, and attended trade group conferences and other networking events, so she had something recent to talk about in job interviews," he says. "If you stay current and involved, and keep your resume up-to-date to reflect that, it's shows employers you're motivated and a self-starter."

    Papas adds that people who are out of work are often embarrassed about it, so they don't reach out to friends, relatives, and former colleagues to find out about possible job leads. "There's nothing shameful about unemployment, when 23 million other people are in the same boat," he says. "And networking and referrals are how you'll get that next job. People want to help. Often it's making that first call [to someone in your network] that's the hardest. Once you get some momentum going, it gets easier."